"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."

— Frederick Douglass

Last year, before embarking on our year long commitment living in Nicaragua to further the PEACE plan for our church, both Dustin and I were contracted by Orphan Network (ONET) to complete several initiatives. One of my tasks was to launch the same Adult Literacy and Life Skills program we started on the east coast in Puerto Cabezas, but on the west coast. The first community ONET wanted me to start with was the refugee community of Nueva Vida. Nueva Vida was where many families were relocated after the devastation of Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

My cancer diagnosis came after only a few of the initial meetings had taken place and severely slowed things down after I left the country. Working with Nicaraguan ONET employees, via email, enabled the training to take place this past March. With the help of the adult literacy contact and a teacher from the east coast and Dustin, the training was successfully completed in five afternoons. Out of 19 trained, 9 committed to the year long class and quickly started gathering students. Currently there are 5 classes (teachers are partnered up) and 75 students.

I got back from Nicaragua Tuesday and was able to meet with Pastora Cecilia (the woman managing the rest of the teachers and teaches her own class) and several of the teachers. They are almost finished with the first book. I was prepared to get a lot of questions and challenges brought to my attention since I haven’t been there post-training. However, that wasn’t the case. Several challenges were brought up but they quickly told me how they worked through the problems and were able to move ahead. This was incredibly encouraging because a.) they remembered the problem solving suggestions given in training, and b.) many times, in our experience, when a problem arises everything stops until we intervene.

I asked them to share how they are already seeing change in their students lives. Here are a few examples:

• Many students didn’t even know how to hold a pencil, no less write with it. Now they are easily and accurately writing letters and numbers and constructing short sentences. (I saw some written work and was impressed with the penmanship.)
• Jessenia, a 30 year old with three children (2, 6, & 11 yrs. old) is so excited to be learning to read and write that she is now teaching her children to do the same. This has given her a greater sense of dignity and self worth.
• Students have been able to read signs in town and not depend on others for help.
• After the lesson on “Vaccinations” , students were now aware that these were even available to them for their children.
• One woman whose husband would talk down to her and call her ignorant has learned during the “income” lesson that she isn’t stupid because she earns money selling sweets and actually earns more than her husband does. This has given her a sense of self worth and confidence that she’s never had. (Now we just need them to revisit the lesson on how husbands and wives should treat each other ;) )
• One class, during the first lesson on “Basic Needs”, was made aware of the fact that everyone in the community has different levels of needs and that they should not gossip (a huge problem there) about people who have been given things by outsiders or others in the community because they may really need those things that others already have or take for granted.

These are just a small sample of the positive changes taking place because of this unique literacy and life skills curriculum aimed to not only make them literate but to make them more self aware and raise their consciousness level to empower them to make positive changes in order to improve their standard of living.

The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. - Acts 15:31

Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. Ephesians 3:2-5

The early church grew because of truthful encouraging letters from the early Apostles and Prophets. By teaching people to read we are equipping the students in this community to be encouraged by the "word" just as the early church. During those times the “word” launched a movement of change and transformation and that's what we believe can happen in places like Nueva Vida.

So I left that meeting with a big smile on my face and very encouraged by the continued enthusiasm of the teachers and their promises of sticking through the year regardless of what challenges may arise. One of the teachers showed me an “exam” they made up to check her students’ progress. It brought me so much joy to see these students writing their names and complete sentences. I encouraged them to engage more with their students on a personal level because I want to hear even more stories when I return!